Welding electrode



Jne 15, 1943. 1 wlNLQK ETAL 2,322,161

WELDING ELEGTRODE Filed Feb. 3, 1942 INVENTORS To saph Winlocl lohn J. Mcm; Kinney BY Q 053W ATTORNEY Patented June 15, 1943 2,322,101 y WELDING ELECTRODE Joseph Winlock and John J. MacKinney, Philadelphia, Pa., assiguors to Edward G. Budd Manufacturing o.', Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application reiiruary '3, 1942, serial No. 429,354

(C1. 21a-4i Claims.

This invention, the application for which is a continuation-in-part of our copending application, Serial No. 342,234, filed June 25, 1940, now Patent No. 2,298,633, October 13, 1942, relates to electrodes for use in electric resistance welding, particularly spot welding electrodes.

In order that assurance'ma'y be had that the welds produced in electric resistance welding will have the required strength, itis essential that certain conditions be maintained constant or at least substantially constant, some of these conditions being, for example, the electrode pressure, the current strength, the period of current flow, the surface character of the work to be welded, and the surface characteristics'of the electrode tips.

The present invention specifically relates t0 the latter and has for one of its objects the provi-.

sion of an electrode tip of such surface contour that, other conditions being constant, a materially greater number of welds can be made with a given electrode before redressing the tip thereof than is possible with conventional electrodes heretofore used.

Another object is to provide an electrode tip which is of such surface contour as to permit ofconcentration of the welding current centrally of the tip Contact surfacer to insure an eflicient weld and yet permit of control of the diameter of the weld.`

A further object is to provide a welding electrode tip with a generally spherical surface of such radius as to permit an indentation of such character that the solid unmolten metal surrounding the immediate weld nugget contacts a diameter of the electrode tip contact surface at least as great as the diameter of the nugget whereby to crowd such unmolten metal firmly around the nugget under the welding pressure and prevent splaying of the molten metal of the nugget. i

A still further object is to provide an electrode tip of spherical contour for use in welding thin gauge sheet metal in which the spherical surface of the tip may vary between oneinch and two and one-half inches. f

With the above and other objects in View which, from the description, will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, the present invention consists in certain features of construction to be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawing, and then claimed.

vIn the drawing, there is shown a pair of electrades I0 in operative relation with a pair of thin gauge sheets II of metal, each electrode having a shank I2 and a tip Itof spherical end contour, the radius I4 of the spherical surface is indicated at I'Band the diameter of Contact of the spherical end face II with the adjacent sheet II is indicated at I8 and shown to be substantially the same as the diameter of the nugget or Weld IE.

In resistance welding, th'e strength of the weld, as is well known1 is differentfor different thicknesses of metal and experimentation gives the proper welding pressure and current 4for a given thicknessof material and weld strength.

The size or diameter of the Weld is in turn determined by the weld strength, the diameter of the Weld also substantially determines the diameter of the electrode tip. i

Due to the concentration of current flow through the electrode tip, the full diameter of the tip is not utilized in producing a spot weld. The eiective contact area is less than the tip area and centrally located within the same.

In the welding of thin gauge sheets,` such as for example, stainless steel sheets of .010 thickness, with electrodes having flat tips there is considerable tendency for the Contact area to'grow, that is to increase in size radially. This generally results from oxidation and alloying of the tip surface, where copper electrodes are used, and primarily arises from the fact that the electrode surface is so close to the molten weld nugget that its tip surface becomes highly heated. Since the temperature of the molten nugget may be as high as 2700 degrees F., such as occurs in stainless steel, it is obvious that in thin gauge sheets of the order of .010" thickness the metal intervening between the electrode tip and weld nugget is extremely small and cannot help but become heated to a high temperature. Such heating promotes oxidation and alloying of the tip surface with the resultant irregularygrowth in size and consequent change in shape. Thel change in shape and increase in size of the contact area causes a change or decrease in current density and results in welds of inferior strength. The ultimate result is that only a few welds can be made before the electrode has to be redressed. We have discovered that the life of a welding electrode particularly electrodes employed in welding thin gauge stainless' steel sheets can be manifoldly prolonged, that is. the period between successive dressings to shape, by forming thef contact surface of the tip to a generally spherical contour, the radius of which spherical surface is determined substantially by the diameter of the desired weld area.

Knowing the diameter of the weld area, the radius of the spherical tip surface is so selected that when the molten nugget has reached the diameter which is to constitute the diameter of the weld, the indentation in the work sheet due to the spherical surface will be such as to afford contact with the tip surface through a diameter at least as great as but not substantially greater than the diameter of the weld. By so adjusting the tip spherical radius to afford the contact above described, the solid unmolten metal surrounding the immediate weld nugget is pinched or crowded around the molten nugget metal, preventing splaylng of the same.

Assuming for example that the welding of sheets of .010 thickness requires a weld strength necessitating the use of an electrode tip of diameter, we have found that the minimum radius of the spherical tip surface should be inthe neighborhood of one and one-half inches. This radius is substantially eight times the diameter of the tip. With such` a tip radius, splaying of the metal is prevented, and yet the number of welds which can be made with a given electrode before redressing is necessary is increased manifoldly over and above those possible with a fiat plain tip. Very satisfactory results, however, are obtainable with an electrode of this diameter wherein the spherical surface is maintained between one and one and one-half inches. While it is true that due to wear and the high temperatures in the thinner gauge sheets there is a tendency'toward enlargement of the contact area of the tip, such growth or enlargement is prolonged because such growth must occur on the spherical surface diverging away from the worksheet.-

It can thus be seen that by lrounding the contact surface of the electrode tip as herein describeda any growthor vbuilding out of the tip adjacent the contact area must occur through an appreciable axial space before it can interfere with the effective contact area and produce an ineiilcient weld whereas in the case of the iiat plain tip any growth or building out of the tip immediately adds to the effective contact area. Ourexperience has been that the number of welds that can be produced with a given electrode of our invention under a given set of conditions is manifoldly increased over the number that can be produced with a flat tip electrode.

In the case of welding sheets of thickness less than .010". such as .004 and where less weldsures and larger diametered tips are employed it may be desirable to increase the curvature radius to two or two and one-half inches. An example of this character is the welding of stainless steel sheets of .25 thickness wherein the electrode diameter due to the increased pressures required, may be in the neighborhood of three-fourths of an inch.

As a general rule, the minimum radius oi tip curvature, which provides for greatest current concentration, isv determined generally by the diameter of the weld, and is such that the work sheet is in contact with a diameter of the spherical surface of the tip which is at least as great as but not substantially greater than the diameter of the weld nugget.

As it wm be apparent tor-those sinned 1n me art that changes may be made without departing 4from the spirit of the invention, reference will be had to the appended claims for a definition of the limits of theinvention.

What is claimed is:

1. A pair of opposed welding electrodes having spherical end tips, the radius of such tips ranging from substantially one inch to two and one-half inches and the length of said radius being between three to eight times thediameter of said HD.

2. A welding electrode havinga spherical end tip, the radius of said tip being substantially between one inch and two and one-half inches and the length of said radius being three to eight times the diameter of said tip.

3. A spot welding electrode having a tip, said tip having a diameter of the order of threesixteenths of an inch and a spherical end facel said end face having a radius of curvature of between one and one and onehalf inches and a ratio of radius of curvature to tip diameter of from three-to-eight to one.

4. A spot welding electrode having a tip. said tip having a diameter of the order of threesixteenths of an inch and a spherical end face, said end face 'having a radius of curvature of approximately one and one-half inches and said radius having a ratio to the tip diameter of approximately 8 to one.

5. A welding electrode having a spherical end tip, the radius of said tip being substantially between one inch and two and one-half inches, and several times greater than the. diameter of said tip by at least three times. i

JOSEPH WINLOCK. JOHN J. MACKINNEY. 

